Billionaire Carlos Slim, the
richest man in the world according to Forbes magazine, said he’d
rather spend money on projects that create jobs than give away
his cash as part of a fight against poverty.

“The only way to fight poverty is with employment,” Slim
said at a conference in Sydney today. “Trillions of dollars
have been given to charity in the last 50 years, and they don’t
solve anything.”

Slim’s comments come as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are
in China to persuade fellow billionaires to give at least half
their wealth to charity. Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
Inc., and Microsoft Corp. cofounder Gates have signed up more
than 30 philanthropists, including Larry Ellison and Paul Allen,
to their Giving Pledge initiative.

“To give 50 percent, 40 percent, that does nothing,” Slim
said. “There is a saying that we should leave a better country
to our children. But it’s more important to leave better
children to our country.”